Drosophila Genetics - UC3#

Combining earth observation and genomics data to study the evolutionary history of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

In our “Drosophila genomics” use case, we take advantage of comprehensive earth observation data for climate and land use available in the public domain. We will combine environmental data with genomic information of fruit fly DNA samples from more than 300 European Drosophila melanogaster populations that were densely sampled through time and space by DrosEU, our partner consortium. We are developing tools that facilitate extracting information for sample coordinates from gridded datasets to identify links between genetic variation along the whole Drosophila melanogaster genome and environmental variation.

This approach will allow to identify genes that are putatively under selection and involved in adaptation to environmental change. Using machine learning approaches, we further aim to identify combinations of environmental factors that may influence the genetic diversity in natural populations which will help us to better understand the impact of climate change on the accelerating biodiversity crisis.

Partners: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Natural History Museum Vienna (NHMW)